


Gardenia

by zenonaa



Series: TogaFuka Week 2015 [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Togafuka Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 03:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4289334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Fukawa-chan, give us a fashion show so we can make sure your hair won’t strain your neck.”<br/>“I’m not a sideshow!”<br/>“Fashion show, not sideshow. Come on, Fukawa-chan, model for us.” </p><p>Togami and Fukawa go out for an anniversary dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gardenia

The bottles lined up on the shelves shared few outward similarities. Touko, standing nearer to the narrow stretches of white than one would passing through, turned over in her hands an opaque red bottle that she had picked up for closer inspection. According to the label on the shampoo bottle, it was for people with long hair, and she fitted that category quite comfortably because the end of her braids reached her fingertips when her arms hung straight down. She slotted it back into the gap on the shelf that she created after she took it out, deciding to shortlist it and possibly come back for it later.

A few brands across from the red bottle was one containing amber, which Touko examined next. Its container boasted more than one kind of orange, with streaks of gold and peach and coral that produced slivers of other shades where they blended into one another slightly. Those who wanted their hair to have more body used this shampoo, and it was while Touko considered whether this applied to her that a set of footsteps grew louder until a pair of polished black shoes squeaked to a stop beside her turned outward loafers.

“Have you found any that appeal to you?” asked Byakuya Togami, who instigated this trip to the supermarket. The voices of other customers buzzed, out of sight.

“Not yet,” she admitted, and she put the bottle back to its former place on the shelf. “There are so many to choose from...”

“Yes, well, going by your track record for hygiene, I can’t imagine that you would know that much about hair products,” he remarked in that unfiltered way of his that she smiled at, and he reached forward to grab a concave bottle with a brand name written in cursive. “This one will do. Here, read it and see for yourself.”

Touko accepted the pink shampoo bottle and skimmed through its label. It promised to leave hair silky, intended for those with long and thick hair, so she dropped it into the trolley where it joined the groceries accumulated so far. Byakuya passed her the conditioner that went with the shampoo and once he felt it leave his grip, he browsed through the rest of the aisle and arriving at the far end, disappeared around the corner. She hurried after him with the trolley and lingered at the mouth of the new aisle, watching Byakuya from a distance for a few moments. Her smile twitched wider at the sight of him crouching down and rising back up with something green in his hand, but then he shot a stern look at her so she pushed the trolley over in case he needed it.

He had wandered over to the cosmetics section and he glanced at her when she pressed her cheek against his arm, but he didn’t tell her to get off.

“Bubble bath?” she read aloud from the lime coloured bottle in Byakuya’s hand, and he followed her gaze. The container was shaped like a bottle of champagne, with gold foil crinkled around the lid and neck of it. On the shoulder of the bottle was a sticker with a drawing of a white gardenia flower that had petals that coiled in a spiral pattern, and a label below the picture confirmed that it was indeed gardenia.

“Yes,” said Byakuya. He prodded his glasses higher up his nose. “I thought that with our anniversary approaching, we ought to celebrate.”

She nodded and wiggled past the nook of his elbow so she could burrow into his side. One year, an entire year had almost elapsed since they officially got together. Officially, because confused kisses born from feelings even more confusing didn’t quite count. They still happened, they were just as real as all the kisses they shared subsequently, but the timer for this anniversary started when he held her hands and said he wanted to invest in ‘us’ with a pink on his face that she couldn’t remember seeing before that moment.

“We’re in public,” he muttered, and he nudged her off in case someone stumbled upon them and their blatant display. Touko relented but stayed close, clasping her hands together against her chest. Both continued looking at the bottle of bubble bath. Byakuya’s fingers curled tighter around it and he added, “A relaxing bubble bath will do nicely. We’ll take it after we have our dinner that day.” 

* * *

The dimmed screen on Touko’s phone told the time to be an hour until the anniversary dinner.

Aoi, cross-legged on Touko’s bed, piped up, “You have so much hair, Fukawa-chan.”

“S-So?” asked Touko, glaring at Aoi’s small reflection in the dressing table mirror. While Touko was wearing a yellow dress purchased one month before, Aoi wore an old vest top and shorts. And while Aoi had scraped her hair back into a messy ponytail, Touko’s hair was in the middle of being styled by Kyouko, whose blouse and jeans hovered somewhere between the two extremes of casual and formal.

Kyouko shifted her weight between feet and stooped down, blocking most of Aoi’s image from view for a few moments. She squinted as she parted Touko’s hair down the middle with a black tail comb. Touko returned her attention to the mirror. With her makeup already in place, once Kyouko fixed up her hair, all Touko needed to do was wait for Byakuya to come over so they could take a taxi to the restaurant together. The thought ignited an excited quiver in her chest.

“You’re going to look amazing,” gushed Aoi. Kyouko swayed to the side and Aoi reappeared in the mirror.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Touko asked, the quiver in her chest turning uncomfortable. She fidgeted her hands against her lap. “A-As long as you two don’t mess up, everything will go perfectly...” Her voice became higher pitched. “It has to!”

“Fukawa-chan, you know we wouldn’t ruin this for you,” said Aoi.

A pause.

“Well, on purpose, anyway.”

Touko’s jaw clenched then unclenched. She snatched up her phone and checked the time. Byakuya still wouldn’t be here for another hour. The phone thudded back to the table, screen bright for a few seconds before it faded into muted colours. To give her hands something to do, Touko adjusted the black flat collar of her dress with guidance from the mirror.

Kyouko started to braid Touko’s hair, beginning at her ear.

“I’ve eaten there before,” said Kyouko.

“With Naegi?” asked Touko.

“No, by myself,” said Kyouko without missing a beat. She finished the braid on one side and moved on to the other. “I recommend the cheesecake.”

Touko stared down while Kyouko pinned her hair into a bun on the top of her head. Her hands had nothing to do again so she reached underneath her collar, pulling out the ametrine gemstone of her silver chain necklace. She closed her fist slowly around the teardrop shape, hiding most of it from sight so only glimpses of purple and yellow peeked out from between her fingers.

“All that hair isn’t going to be too heavy, is it?” asked Aoi. “Fukawa-chan, give us a fashion show so we can make sure your hair won’t strain your neck.”

“I’m not a sideshow!” said Touko, hunching her shoulders.

“Fashion show, not sideshow.” Aoi clapped her hands together. “Come on, Fukawa-chan, model for us.”

Kyouko walked over to the bed and sat next to Aoi. Not hearing either of them move again after, Touko looked back and saw the two of them staring at her with unwavering gazes. The back of Touko’s neck itched.

“F-Fine!” She marched over to the bed, plopping herself down temporarily as she put her high heels on. When they were on her feet, she walked stiffly around the room, wobbling only twice during her circuit.

“I think it’s a good thing you went for yellow rather than the black,” Aoi commented, referring to Touko’s dress. Touko had yearned to have a situation like an anniversary dinner to give real reason to wear it outside of the house. Its ribbon belt barely cinched her waist and she suspected it was only there for aesthetic reasons, but it fulfilled its role. She felt pretty.

Her vague catwalk concluded at the dressing table and Touko pivoted on her heel, holding her breath.

“You’re gorgeous,” was all that Aoi said. Kyouko nodded.

Touko aimed a smile at the carpet and let out a small sigh.

* * *

“What do you think of your soba?” asked Byakuya as he lifted his chopsticks to his mouth. He slurped his noodles. Droplets fell and splattered back into his bowl, into the brown soup within.

Byakuya and Touko sat at a table against a wall, one group of several dining in the restaurant this evening. Neither had dined here before but Kyouko recommended the place to them, and Byakuya was keen to find out just how good it was. Orbs of light dangled from the ceiling and along with paper screens and the wooden interior of the establishment, bathed everything in earthly hues. In this lighting, Touko’s dress still appeared yellow though as a duller mustard colour. Her heels clacked against the floor as she bobbed her legs.

Not much talk could be heard from the rest of the restaurant, business men murmuring at the bar at the front and families sprinkled here and there, all tired and more interested in eating than conversing. Everyone beyond Touko’s table may as well have been part of the decor. The business men may as well have been statues hunched over on stools at the bar, stone grey and wearing fatigued masks that sagged at the cheeks and their voices may as well have been the rumble of air conditioning.

Touko dipped a few strands of pale soba noodles into her dark tsuyu and brought her chopsticks to her lips. Her eyes closed as she tasted, savoured, that first bite. The noodles were plain and a bit chewy but that allowed the tsuyu’s flavour to be more obvious, with a hot sweetness that didn’t burn her tongue and cooled before her next mouthful.

“It’s delicious,” she said truthfully. “How is yours, darling? Do you like it?”

“This broth is subtler than what I am used to.” He stirred his chopsticks in search of any pieces of chicken. Condensation fogged the lens of his glasses so he raised a hand to rub circles on them, something both he and Touko had to do once every few minutes.

She stared at him with her chin resting in her hand. The lighting bronzed his skin and turned his monochrome suit sepia. Byakuya met her gaze as he swallowed.

“But yes, I’m enjoying it,” he said, and he gathered more noodles.

A smile spread across Touko’s face that he reciprocated faintly. Maintaining eye contact, she crawled her fingers over to where he had set his hand down after he cleaned his glasses. Their hands brushed together.

“What about dessert?” she asked, lifting her foot out of her shoe for a moment and stretching her leg toward him. She grazed her toe against his trouser leg.

Byakuya seemed not to notice and leaned back, turning his head so he could read the menu on the wall behind him. Unfortunately, this meant his hand receded to grip the edge of the table, out of her reach, so Touko let her arm slump. Her leg kicked back too, going into its shoe again.

“Matcha Brulee sounds appetising,” he said. “I’ll have that next. And you?”

“Cheesecake,” she blurted.

He resumed his dinner, not put off by the abruptness of her answer. In fact, from his smirk, it seemed that he liked the quick response. “I’ll order them shortly.”

His hand released the edge of the table and slipped underneath so she withdrew her arm, laying it on her lap as she finished her soba noodles. Touko had never been much of an eater but she was determined to consume what she had been given.

When she was almost done, the woman that brought them their meals earlier stopped at their table to give Touko a small teapot with hot, milky water in it.

“Here’s your sobayu,” the woman said with a toothy grin.

Byakuya waved his hand and didn’t bother looking at the woman as he spoke. “We will also be wanting dessert. Matcha brulee and cheesecake.”

“Of course,” said the woman.

Touko watched the woman leave and frowned as she poured water from the teapot into the remainder of her dipping sauce. A few pinches with the chopsticks fed Touko the last of her soba noodles and she drank the dipping sauce and water mixture. Byakuya emptied his dish and hearing him set down his chopsticks, she looked up and spotted him training his eyes on her.

She touched her fingers to the corner of her lips, wondering whether her lipstick had smudged or if some food missed her mouth. “Do I have sauce on my face?”

“Hm,” he went, and he bent forward with an arm extended. Touko stood up and also bent over the table to shorten the distance he would need to go in order to reach her. He placed his palm on her cheek and swiped his thumb across the corner of her lips. Then he pulled his hand back and sat properly in his seat, showing a glint of teeth.

Her answer didn’t come right away. She cleaned her glasses and asked, “D-Did you get it?”

Byakuya peered off to the side as he rapped his fingers against the table. “What? Oh, that.”

He stopped tapping and took a sip of sobacha.

“Yes,” he said. “I got it.”

She smiled and drank from her cup, gulping down a smooth, nutty taste that glided down her throat.

They didn’t have to wait long to be served dessert. The woman with the toothy grin cleared their table and used the zaru that Touko had eaten her noodles from as a tray to carry everything away, and she came back a minute later with a ramekin and a plate.

Touko munched on her cheesecake. Its crust was different in texture to the thick green layer on top, which was softer and not as sweet as she anticipated. But after the tsuyu, she welcomed the hint of bitterness.

“How is the draft of your novel going?” Byakuya asked. He dug his spoon into his brulee. “You mentioned that you couldn’t figure out an appropriate place to end a chapter.”

She licked at the back of her teeth. “I sorted it out.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, I realised that I could end the scene earlier than I did, so I cut out the last few paragraphs.”

He propped his chin in his palm, elbow on the table. “There are times when sacrifices have to be made. Does that mean I’ll be able to read it in the near future?”

“Yes, Mr. Editor,” she said, batting her eyelashes, and they exchanged small smiles.

At the end of the meal, they stood up and Touko tugged down her sleeves so the cuffs slid into their proper position by her wrists.

“Let’s go,” Byakuya said as she picked up her shoulder bag.

“Are we going to your place now?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “As I recall, we arranged to have a soak together.”

They paid on the way out. In the doorway, Touko hooked her arm around his elbow and Byakuya allowed it.

* * *

Touko swapped her house slippers for a different pair and padded into Byakuya’s bathroom. She closed the door behind her and started to get changed, dragging her tights down her legs and stepping out of the slippers so she could take her tights and panties off. As eagerly as she put on her dress, she stripped herself of it along with her bra, and she deposited her outfit in a roughly folded pile by Byakuya’s glasses next to the sink.

Above the sink was a mirror and she studied her reflection, poking at her makeup that would have to be washed off before she joined Byakuya in the tub. The last thing she needed to take off was her necklace so she unfastened it and laid it on top of her clothes.

A towel had been draped over the metal railing on the wall beside the door that led to the area with the tub and hearing the drone of the tumble dryer, she knew that more towels were in there and they would be warm when it was opened later. She patted at the braided bun on the top of her head, deciding to leave it be for now, and she took the towel off the rail so she could cover herself with it.

Byakuya was already in the tub, surrounded by foam with his hands behind his head. His eyes followed her lazily as she drew nearer to him. To give the room a more romantic atmosphere, he had lit some scented candles that, as she learned when she passed them, smelled of lavender.

“Rinse yourself quickly. There is soap and a wash towel for you to use,” said Byakuya. “Don’t forget to take your glasses off too.”

Touko sat on the stool by the shower and peeled off her towel. Her neck prickled, feeling his stare. Both had seen the other naked prior to this, on several occasions even, but none of those had involved bathing.

Washing the lower part of her body required no more than a few minutes. She left her glasses on the stool and walked over to him, treading out of her slippers along the way. Which perhaps wasn’t the best idea, because she stumbled and nearly tumbled headfirst into the tub.

“Honestly,” said Byakuya. He clicked his tongue but rose, offering Touko his steady hands to grab onto. Foam clung to his chest and lapped at his hips.

“I was too excited.” Touko looked up at his face but didn’t feel all that sorry as he wrapped his fingers around her hands and helped her in. They lowered themselves together and submerged most of their bodies in the water. She twisted away from him so she could settle between his legs, her back pressed up against his chest. A contented moan drifted up from the pit of her stomach and escaped through her parted lips, wafting through the steam around them.

She heard him inhale through his nose. “You’ve been applying the shampoo and conditioner that I bought you.”

“I have.” Touko lolled her head backward into a comfortable spot on his shoulder and flashed him a smile. The foam in the bath tickled her skin. “Do you... like it?”

Byakuya smirked. “I chose well.”

He stroked the top of her braided bun.

“You can have your hair down in here, you know,” he murmured in her ear.

Touko shivered in the hot water and began to fiddle with her bun, extracting bobby pins that clattered lightly against the tiles outside the bath. Byakuya’s fingers came up and worked alongside hers, each bit of physical contact between them making her skin tingle no matter how brief, until they had unravelled all of her bun. He separated the strands and pinched them apart, helping untangle her hair. She rocked forward so he could flatten her hair across her back, snuggling up to him immediately after.

Minutes melded their skin together with passage. Touko felt Byakuya curl some of her hair around his finger. A low hum blew out from her lips. It died away and she listened to him breathe.

“Byakuya?” she said after a while, peeping at him.

“Hm?”

“We’re not in public anymore,” she said. She rubbed his thigh.

He raised his eyebrows. “Yes, but we’re in a bath.”

“Only the two of us.” Touko turned around with a series of gentle splashes and hugged her arms around his neck, pressing their bodies together.

Byakuya looked down long enough for her to notice. Her heart fluttered.

“Later,” he said to her face.

That suited Touko just fine so she cuddled up close.

 


End file.
